I'm looking to purchase a flash card for a DS Lite that will be used by young kids (kindergarden) to play backups of their games. The most important aspect is that it is very simple to use (both the loading of backup roms to the card and selecting/launching games from the DS Lite)... and it must support sleep mode and all that. All the fancy stuff doesn't matter (media playback, etc..). It would probably be nice if it supports DS to DS stuff that any games might use in case the kids want to play with each other.

I keep reading that CycloDS is the best but it's also the most expensive. I'm guessing its overkill for the kids needs since they aren't really going to get crazy with features or anything. But if it's the easiest and the most straightforward, then I'll of course consider it.

Any feedback (including best place to buy it in the US) would be appreciated.. thanks!

R4 is easy with YSmenu it has perfect compatibility. There just kids so yeah...

Acekard 2i is also good for them has perfect compatibility and a team named AKAIO has the best firmware/loaders for it. I Suggest getting the Acekard 2i. Your kids will love it has a colorful menu too.

Ignore the above post, R4 isn't all "simple and convenient" that as he mentioned. R4 is a outdated flashcart and in some cases has trouble running some games (My cousin which is about 9 had trouble with her R4 and came to me for help). R4 IMO has excessive bugs compared to other flashcarts (Some bugs may include : Unable to open your game because of save file, etc. This is where EXTRA work is needed, the extra work other flashcarts won't need to do.

After that is covered, please do not buy the R4. If you have the DS i would recommend the M3 Real. Run it on M3 Sakura firmware, very easy to use and customize it to your liking (Very organized to avoid confusion as well!)
Other flashcarts may include the DSTT (Its cheap and has no problems when my friend uses it)

For the DSi, it is no doubt you should get the SuperCard Onei. It isn't the best card around, but it plays games great, and also has a updater to block out all attacks Nintendo has to offer. M3i is probably the best flashcart for the DSi, and of course, also has a updater to block out all threats created by Nintendo.

its true that for 6 bucks, its quite the bargain. however, from personal experience you might as well throw in a few more bucks and get a better flash cart. the high end ones only cost ~30 or so, which is like a single real game.

you should listen to PharaohsVizier/iwakura's advise
they wrote some very good reviews on flash cart
Please and never listen to some other user's gibberish about getting r4

A couple of us said EDGE is an idiot proof cart for DSL/DS
all you need is just drag and drop the firmware
the interface is simple yet nicely done
so i would say go for EDGE as suggested
the only downside of EDGE would be cheat
however, the latest cheat engine from the latest firmware had fixed a lot of the cheat compatibility issue

true, just drag and drop and that's it, u have your firmware and a basic cheat database, just too bad it isn't moron/retard-proof enough to ward off those who are too stupid to understand drag and drop aka extract the freaking file into your freaking mircosd.

My first ever flash cart was the EDGE and i thought it was brilliant, I never had any problems with it at all and even the cheats worked great for me (bust as people have said you can have some problems). You can learn to use it in minutes. I would definitly promote the EDGE. (plus its come in a cool box)

I now have a m3i running sakura and and acekard 2i running akaio and there both great but for the age your talking about i would definitly go with the EDGE

Yes, I'm sure they'll have a very good time scrolling and browsing through the clunky menu, the outdated GUI, the slow loading times, the complicated cheat engine, the ugly interface, and the complicated RTS and other useless for kids features. Thank you.

Thanks SO much for all the replies! I really appreciate, and so will the kids

Looks like I'm leaning towards buying the EDGE from dealextreme.com -- nice and cheap! And they seem trustworthy, right? I probably wont buy it for a couple of days or so (still reading up on this stuff), so please feel free to continue chiming in if you have other feedback or suggestions.

Good to know about the slow DealExtreme.. thanks. I plan on getting the cards for Christmas so time isn't that big an issue but I may go with DealPerfect instead of they are faster. Price seems about the same. As long as I get the card by Christmas and it's not defective (or the have a great replacement policy) I'm happy

My 4-year-old has no problems getting around the Acekard 2i with the official menu system (haven't tried anything else). Each game shows up with its icon, so she just highlights the one she wants and hits the button to start it. No big deal.

First off, what area of the US do you live in? Mid, west, east, HI, AK, etc? I would personally suggest (for easy use) a R4. People say it sucks but it's basic and easy to use. I can dig up a Youtube video somewhere with a link of everything you need to get the R4 running. It's incredibly easy to use. And it's cheap.

I ordered my R4 from ModChipCentral.com. They're located in Canada but I got it in about a week with cheap shipping prices. If you're wondering, I live in New Jersey.

I got a 3-in-1 from RealHotStuff.com, and they also sell slot-1 cards. If you live in or around New Jersey for most of the upper eastern section of the US, you should buy from them. I literally got it within 1 or 2 days. Yet again, I could drive to their warehouse in less than an hour.

That's my though. No point wasting lots of money on a fancy cart if kids won't know the difference or won't care. R4 is probably the way to go.